I seem to be in the minority as I see this Gamma Ray album as better than their previous,
LAND OF THE FREE. Of course, more listens to both of them down the track might change this, but for now, I can only say that this is the band's best album since their debut,
HEADING FOR TOMORROW, with some exhilerating tracks and powerful melodies as they indulge themselves in science fiction like jumping into black holes, "Star Trek", lamenting the future and suchlike. Such songs as the opening "Beyond The Black Hole", "Somewhere Out In Space", "The Guardians Of Mankind", "Valley Of The Kings" and the concluding "Shine On" are highlights, while they also do their own version of "Watcher Of The Sky", which Kai Hansen co-wrote with Iron Savior's Piet Sielck, and was also featured on that band's debut album around the same time. Sielck appears on this one as well.
One drawback is that there's a bit too much here; they would have done well to trim it a bit, and they still can't match the leaders (for me) of power metal to this moment, Blind Guardian. But
Somewhere Out In Space remains one of the better releases of the genre.
****
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